Tag Archives: Minnesota

St. Paul has done rather well for himself in the modern world, honoured by London’s stand-out Cathedral, and the biggest city in Minnesota, USA. He would probably be most impressed however to have had a range of Belgian beers named after him; something to which even I still aspire.

St. Paul though is most famously renowned in the teachings of the Bible. He was the main protagonist of the book Acts, and is credited with writing an astonishing 13 books of the 27 in the New Testament. The story in Acts, tells of a man who while living as a diaspora Jew in Tarsus (modern day Turkey) rejected the teachings of Jesus, claiming that nobody suffering the indignity of crucifixion could ever be the Messiah and son of God. Something happened though on the road to Damascus which turned Paul’s head towards Jesus, and he spent the rest of his life turning the words of Jesus from what was then a small sect of Judaism into what most of us now know as the modern worldwide faith of Christianity.

Paul spent the rest of his life on the road, preaching as a missionary and spreading the word of Christ. He undertook three main journeys which took him around Turkey and the Middle East, and eventually to Rome where he would eventually lose his life, beheaded after two years’ incarceration in chains.

Let’s not get carried away here though; while St. Paul is clearly a very important historical character, he was never really famous for beer, and the beers for which he is known are not exactly impressive. While the bottles are uniquely shaped, the contents are distinctly average. The St. Paul Special was weirdly herbal, and extremely dark but nothing your discerning Belgian beer drinker would ever go looking for. Even though these beers are no longer actually brewed by Sterkens (for the story see St. Paul Double#177), I am not particularly worried about seeking out the remainder of the range. It will take more than this to convert me!